Levée en masse

Levée en masse is a French term for mass conscription.

Pospolite Ruszenie

In Poland, the levying of gentry and peasantry together became known as pospolite ruszenie. Non-Polish historians often use the anachronistic French term levée en masse to denote the institution.

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Before the 13th century pospolite ruszenie was the customary method employed in the raising of royal Polish armies. Gradually, however, because of the perceived unreliability of untrained peasants, it became rare for large numbers of them to be mobilised. Instead, the levies included knights—who later transformed into nobles (szlachta)—along with wojts and soltys.

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Pospolite in Commonwealth Poland

Pospolite ruszenie units were usually organised on voivodship basis and varied in quality. Szlachta from regions like Kresy, where combat was common, created fairly competent units, while those from peaceful regions of the Commonwealth lacked battle experience and training and often were substandard compared to the wojsko kwarciane or mercenaries.

Related Topics:
Voivodship - Kresy - Commonwealth - Wojsko kwarciane - Mercenaries

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Szlachta usually created cavalry units, and their favoured weapon was szabla (a kind of saber).

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The privileges granted the nobility by successive kings severly curtailed the royal prerogative in calling for pospolite ruszenie, especially for actions outside the territory of Poland.

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The later Pospolite

Under the influence of revolutionary France and Enlightenment ideas about the role of the militia, the pospolite ruszenie of post-partition Poland was deemed to consist of all able males between 18 and 40 years of age. In 1806 by decree of Napoleon, the pospolite ruszenie in the Duchy of Warsaw served for a short period as the reserve force and recruitment pool for the regular army. During the November Uprising in 1831, the Sejm called for pospolite ruszenie from ages 17 to 50, but that plan was opposed by General Jan Zygmunt Skrzynecki.

Related Topics:
Enlightenment - Duchy of Warsaw - Jan Zygmunt Skrzynecki

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Between 1918 and 1939, in the Second Republic of Poland, the pospolite ruszenie was considered to consist of reserve soldiers from ages 40 to 50 and officers from ages 50 to 60. They had to participate in army exercises and serve in armed forces during times of war. In mobilization schemes, the pospolite ruszenie was treated as the third wave of troops to arrive to the front.

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